Biblical Illusions in Toni Morrisons Song of Solomon...

Biblical Illusions in Toni Morrisons Song of Solomon Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison, is about a man named Macon Dead. Throughout this novel, however, he is known by all except his father as Milkman because his mother breastfed him until he was in his teens. The novel centers on Milkmans attempt to find himself. His family is a wealthy black family living in a poor black neighborhood, where Milkmans father prohibits Milkman from interacting with most of them, including his aunt. However, he ends up visiting her, and while there, he learns a little about his familys mysterious past and decides to look deeper into it. Throughout his journey into his past, one may notice a large amount of biblical allusions. The first and most†¦show more content†¦_Song of Solomon_ in the Bible is about love, just as it is one of the most popular themes in Morrisons novel. Love is apparent in several ways throughout the novel, from Hagars immoral, and eventually psychotic, love for her cousin, Milkman, (which eventually leads to Hagars death), to the lack of love that leads Milkmans mother to habitually breast feed him, at least daily, for years just to get a small amount of pleasure. Morrison explains this by saying, ...he was old enough to be bored by the flat taste of mothers milk.(Morrison) Another way in which Morrison infuses a biblical connection into her works is through the naming of the children in the Dead family. When describing the names of the children she writes, He had cooperated... with the blind selection of names from the Bible for every child other than the first born male. And abided by whatever the finger pointed to... This is the reason for the naming of his other two children (Milkman, or Macon, being the first born male), Magdalene from Mary Magdalene, and First Corinthians, from The Book of Corinthians. Besides the children of Macon Dead, there are other biblical allusions in the names of people. One of these is Hagar, Pilates son and Milkmans cousin. Though the biblical Hagar is not well known, her character in the Bible reflects, in some ways, the character in Morrisons novel. In the bible, Hagar is Sarahs handmaiden. When she bares the son